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Aubria subsigillata (Duméril, 1856)

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Pyxicephalidae > Subfamily: Pyxicephalinae > Genus: Aubria

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Rana subsigillata Duméril, 1856, Rev. Mag. Zool., Paris, Ser. 2, 8: 560. Holotype: MNHNP 1566, according to Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 40. Type locality: "Gabon".

Phrynopsis ventrimaculata Nieden, 1908, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 3: 499. Holotype: ZMB 20134, according to Rödel, Gil, Agyei, Leaché, Diaz, Fujita, and Ernst, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 113. Type locality: "Longji", Cameroon. Synonymy by Schiřtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 27; Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 337 (previously relegated to the synonymy of Pyxicephalus edulis by Loveridge, 1936, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 79: 369-430 (but questioned by Loveridge, 1950, J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist. Soc., 19: 255); and to the synonymy of Leptodactylodon by Laurent, 1946, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 39: 336-338; Perret, 1959, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 82: 247). Rödel, Gil, Agyei, Leaché, Diaz, Fujita, and Ernst, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 113, confirmed the synonymy.

Rana (Aubria) subsigillata — Boulenger, 1917, C. R. Hebd. Séances Acad. Sci., Paris, 165: 988. Monard, 1937 "1936", Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 62: 47; Guibé, 1950 "1948", Cat. Types Amph. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat.: 40; Dubois, 1981, Monit. Zool. Ital., N.S., Suppl., 15: 233; by implication.

Rana subsigillata — Parker, 1936, Zool. Meded., Leiden, 19: 89.

Leptodactylodon ventrimaculata — Laurent, 1946, Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 39: 336-338.

Aubria subsigillata — Laurent, 1953, Bull. Cercle Zool. Congolais, 21: 27. Dubois, 1987 "1986", Alytes, 5: 66.

Aubrya subsigillata — Schiřtz, 1964, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 127: 6.

Aubria occidentalis Perret, 1995 "1994", Tropical Zool., 7: 258. Holotype: MHNG 2129. 17, by original designation. Synonymy by Ohler, 1996, Alytes, 13: 141, and Rödel, Gil, Agyei, Leaché, Diaz, Fujita, and Ernst, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 107-127; this synonymy disputed by Schätti, Perret, and Mariaux, 2002, Cat. Comm. Types Amph. Rept. Mus. Hist. Nat. Geneve, Vers. 4.0 (Jan. 2002): 6.

English Names

West African Brown Frog (Cochran, 1961, Living Amph. World: 132).

Brown Ball Frog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 98).

Distribution

Southern Guinea and northern Liberia through Ivory Coast to southern Cameroon, with an apparent gap in Togo and BeninR, and thence south through Equatorial Guinea to Gabon.

Comment

See Schiřtz, 1963, Vidensk. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. Foren., 125: 26-27, and Perret, 1966, Zool. Jahrb., Jena, Abt. Syst., 93: 336-338. See systematic discussion of interspecific variation in Ohler and Kazadi, 1990 "1989", Alytes, 8: 25-40. Perret, 1996, Bull. Soc. Neuchatel. Sci. Nat., 119: 95-100, discussed an enigmatic specimen previously allocated to this species from southern Angola in dry savanna. Rödel, Gil, Agyei, Leaché, Diaz, Fujita, and Ernst, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 111-112, discussed that although two species can be distinguished, a short-legged Central African taxon with femoral glands close to the knee (Aubria subsigillata) and a West African and coastal Central African species, with longer legs and with femoral glands positioned half-way between the knee and vent, for which Perret coined the name Aubria occidentalis. Unfortunately, the holotype of Aubria occidentalis was assigned to the species Aubria subsigillata and the name Aubria masako applies to the species recognized as Aubria occidentalis by Perret. Rödel, Gil, Agyei, Leaché, Diaz, Fujita, and Ernst, 2005, Salamandra, 41: 113, also suggested that Aubria masako will likely be found to contain more than one species.

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